Supervision as Strategy: Developing People, Strengthening Practice

Providing consistent, high-quality supervision for BCBA fieldwork trainees is one of the most persistent challenges ABA organizations face, particularly across multi-site practices with numerous supervisors. This presentation offers a real-world case study: the tiered supervision model — internally called a "Residency" — that Elevate Behavior Services developed and implemented at a two-location organization to standardize the fieldwork experience for Registered Behavior Technicians pursuing BCBA certification. The model organizes fieldwork into three progressive supervision levels, aligns BACB Task List content with a multi-quarter timeline, and rotates trainees across supervising BCBAs and both office locations to broaden clinical exposure. Attendees will review the accompanying tools that support this structure, including a monthly supervision checklist, quarterly technical and soft-skill self-assessments, defined shadowing procedures, and a trainee onboarding guide. The presentation also discusses practical implementation considerations such as balancing billable programming time with training time, using incentive structures to support trainee engagement and retention, and preparing trainees for the transition to independent practice. Whether an attendee's own program is called a residency, practicum, traineeship, or fieldwork placement, they will leave with a concrete framework — and specific guidance on right-sizing and piloting it — for building or refining supervision at their own organization.

1. 11.Describe a three-level, competency-based supervision framework — including the criteria for progression from Level 1 through Level 3 — that could be built at their own organization. 2. Identify at least four documentation tools that make trainee progress visible to supervisors (e.g., monthly supervision checklist, quarterly Task List self-assessment, resident timeline, shadowing expectations), and which could be adapted for their own program. 3. Explain how a curriculum, such as the BACB Task List, can be sequenced across a multi-quarter timeline to align supervision activities with a trainee's developmental stage, regardless of what the program is called. 4. Identify at least two organizational strategies (e.g., quarterly supervisor rotation, dual-site rotation, incentive structures) that support consistency, engagement, and retention within any supervision model, and describe how to right-size or pilot them at a different organization.